Two railroads to Stalingrad to supply the German 6th Army and the Romanian 3rd, the 4th Panzer
Army and the Romanian 4th Army

Two main railroads were used to bring troops,
food, material and other supply to the fighting forces in and around
Stalingrad.

The end-station of the Western railway was Gumrak railway station (near
Stalingrad) to supply the German 6th Army and the 3rd Romanian Army.
The end-station of the Southern railway was Tinguta railway station (near
Stalingrad) to supply the 4th Panzer Army and the 4th Romanian Army.

The Rail Line from the West
stopped at the Don River as the main bridge had been destroyed.
Then
supplies were transported on the road, truck or wagon, to Kalach to
cross the Don.(red line on
the map below)Then supplies were loaded onto captured Russian Trains
for the 64 km or 40 mile journey to the Stalingrad Area. This rail line/Supply
route directly supplied the German 6th Army and the 3rd Romanian Army in the Stalingrad area.

The book Survivors of Stalingrad by Reinhold Busch has an
eyewitness account of Joachim Feurich :

Page 35-36

”On 23 October we finally arrived at our destination and de-trained
at Tchir on the Don. This is where the railway line to Stalingrad ended,
the final section having been destroyed at Tchir.” Then later on,
walking….”we set off. With a zest for action we reached Kalatch, got
into a waiting ammunition train – and headed for Stalingrad. Pioneers
had restored the railway line from here: it was single-track.
Then…”Towards evening we reached Gumrak, the last station
before Stalingrad: here the railway line ended“

Quote from an interesting
newly released book "The 64th Army at Stalingrad 1942-43" by Dann Falk

Page 156

Fighting at
Stalingrad was largely being supplied by a single rail line starting far
to the west, at a rail junction located on the western side of the
Donets River near the town of Lichaja. This single rail line, capable of
supporting a maximum of 12 pairs of trains a day, first had to cross the
newly repaired Donets River Bridge which was about 244 meter or 800 feet long.

Then the rail
line traveled east another 130 miles or 210 km to the Chir River area. Because the
Russians had completely destroyed the 2,500-foot or 762 meter long rail bridge over the
Don during the fall, the rail head was located at the Tschir station
about 16 km or 10 miles short of the Don. At this point all supplies were
unloaded and transferred to trucks or horse drawn wagons. The supplies
were then driven northeast about 38 km or 24 miles to a pontoon bridge over the
Don and on to the village of Kalach. (red line on the map below) At the Kalach station, supplies
were now loaded onto captured Russian trains running on a section of
restored Russian Broad-Gauge track. These trains covered the last 64 km
or 40
miles to the 6th Army in the Stalingrad area where they were unloaded.
This entire transportation route was time consuming, inefficient and
lacked sufficient carrying capacity.

The
Southern railway :

Rostov - Salsk - Kotelnikovskiy - Tinguta

(map below - green
circles)

The
Southern line crossed the Don at Rostov and came up from the south. This
rail line was used to supply the 4th Panzer Army and the Romanian 4th
Army South of Stalingrad.

The second rail route to
the area south of Stalingrad originated at the city of Rostov located at
the mouth of the Don River. This rail line then traveled south of the
Don via Kotelnikovo and then on to the front south of Stalingrad. This
line could handle some 4 to 5 pairs of trains per day and delivered
supplies directly to the 4th Panzer Army and the 4th Romanian Army."

Again a quote from an interesting newly
released book "The 64th Army at Stalingrad 1942-43" by Dann Falk.

Page 157

"Because of
these railroad limitations and other issues, the Germans and their
Allies were barely supplied at Stalingrad. Bombs and bullets were
reaching the front in adequate amounts, but food, clothing, POL, spare
parts and a host of other supplies were lacking. During the summer
months, minor deficiencies were not too difficult to overlook, but with
the oncoming winter, and the unrelenting combat, things would only get
worse. The lack of proper provisioning and logistical planning had an
increasingly negative influence upon the German’s conduct of the battle.
Of special note, the German 6th Army was forced to send the bulk of its
horses away from the front for the winter due to the inability to bring
forward adequate supplies of fodder. Without these horses, most of the
German infantry formations became largely immobile. This is not much of
a problem as long as the front line remains static, but if mobile
operations were required; these same infantry formations would be forced
to leave most of their heavy weapons behind and fight with greatly
reduced capability and firepower."